Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-05
LIFE BURNED OUT
BY CeniSct with On %itc.ric Wire.
A NAng Hlri suddenly 'ra.sformed
Into DecrepIt uId Woman.
The Bloom of Youth Gives Way to Shriv
elod, Shrunken Cheeks, aud Her
Voice Harsh end Crscked.
Cincinnati Enquirer.

=
CLEVELAND, OHIO, Sept. 29,-OE the
Bfscksville road, about six miles from
the town Of Lorain, OHIO, lives farmer
named Ma1 HaFmen, WHO ceme from Penn
| sYlvsnie about year ego. Harmon's
family consists OF wife ard three emil
dren. The Oldest, named Mary, is a
young lady nineteen yesrs OF age, who
/ has passed through one OF the strangest
and most painful experiences which ever
fell to the lot OF a human being. 4 short
time ego she was q plump, rosy checked
| girl IN robust health and Of s sunny dis
position; to-day, through the influence Of
t. most peculiar accident, she is III all but
years shrunken, peevish cid woman.
+ The story Of this strange metamOr-
! pAosis is as follows: Mary was engaged
to be married to 8 man named Jacob
Eberleip, who had followed the Har-
mons from Pennsylvania and CfterWard
worked for Mr.. Harmon and made mis-
home with the family. About six weeks
ego the young compile came TO Cleveland
to make some purchases and see the
sights. Ole OF the young mans friends
worked in one Of the eIectric.light estab-
lishments at the tims. Eberlein proposed
to take his future bride through the
place and show her the machinery
Ii appears that broken wire OF
her panier or hustle had unperCelved
worked its way through her dress. While
passing aioLg the wire came IN contact
, with one OF the powerful electric ma
chimes, and her hand resting on on iror
bar at the time, completed the circuit,
and she received a severe shock and fel
nsensiole to the floor. In e few mo
ments she revived sufficiently to be re
moved from the place and was taken Il
her home. The muscles OF her face wer
drawn and strained, but il was thought
THAT that would shortly disappear. Med
icaI aid was summcned.
For four days the girl lay in bed in
paralyzed condition. Then she regaine'
n the use Of her limbs, but immediatel
3 began to lose flesh rapidly. The hair o
the LETT side of her head turned gray an
began falling out. After about tou
!. weeks Miss Harmon was able to be abor
and attend to most of her hOusehol
duties as usual, hut in that time she ha
been transformed from a young, hand
some girl into feeble old woman. He
Z form, which had been plump az
rounded, was thin and bent, and ii
q. skin on her face and body was dry en
wrinsled She had been 81 swee
tempered, efecuonste girl, hut is 70
. petv.sb, irritable and selfish. II,
\ voice is harsh and cracked, end no one
look at her would imagine that she VS.
less than sixty years of ege.
The Harmon family are horrifed az
well nigh heartbroken by the tate Of the
once handsome daughter, while your
Eberleln is almost frantic over the chang
in his afli3nCed bride. The physician
claim shat the electric current commun
Gated directly withithe principal nerves
the spine and lett side Of the head, an
that me shock almost completely d
stroyed their vitality. Strange 20 rele
the girls eyesight is but slightly effected
but her hearing is almost totally destroy
ed. Notwithstanding her condition, Il
, physicians claim that her chances f
q living her allotted number CT years d
not materially lessened, although she cs
never recover from her prelnalurely eg'
state.
Instances in which PERSONS hair b
turned white in a single night fro
fright, grief or some excessive nervO
shock are not rare, but this is suppos
= 10 be the first case in medical history
y which s person hss been known to st
from the bloom of vigorous youth ID
the decrepitude OF old sge within wee